pdp ?...meggy was wrong on this one before. so dont expect them to gettit right now. maths not meggys strong suit a/w. and elrock drives math around w/min liability ins. so take that in...
Chess will never be solved, here's why

"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
"which i dont believe the op of the problem suggested." me
Elroch already covered earlier both scenarios of both replacing the balls and not replacing them.

"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
"which i dont believe the op of the problem suggested." me
Elroch already covered earlier both scenarios of both replacing the balls and not replacing them.
And he was wrong about not replacing them.

pdp ?...meggy was wrong on this one before. so dont expect them to gettit right now. maths not meggys strong suit a/w. and elrock drives math around w/min liability ins. so take that in...
Actually math is very much a 'strong suit' of both Elroch and MEGA.
TGL 'trying to be annoying'?
Lol.
You'll have to try Harder. Lass.
But you'll 'Kiss O better'. That you'll succeed in.

@punchdrunkpatzer
"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
Don't know exactly what process you have in mind. You wouldn't replace the black ball because you stop when you find it.
Technically true, but you could replace the white balls. Both possibilities are common in such problems.
The calculation for that question is also a tad simpler if you don't assume you don't stop (it's slightly more complicated if you do).

"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
"which i dont believe the op of the problem suggested." me
Elroch already covered earlier both scenarios of both replacing the balls and not replacing them.
And he was wrong about not replacing them.
Well let's see if Elroch concedes wrongness there or argues for rightfulness or whatever.
I'm confident that if Elroch thought he was wrong he'd probably concede gracefully whereas O in his obtuseness could not do so.
Elroch is usually right though.
He doesn't make false postulations for the sake of being false.
That's O - not Elroch.

Ah nvm. I was wrong
Well there you go.
You just did something with little effort that O can almost never do.

"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
"which i dont believe the op of the problem suggested." me
Elroch already covered earlier both scenarios of both replacing the balls and not replacing them.
And he was wrong about not replacing them.
Do explain. I don't recall being wrong. I do recall considering two alternative questions (I was looking for a question to fit Ghostess' answer, but I didn't end up with one - I am pretty sure there is another well-known problem she was thinking of).
@Elroch (#13596)
I was quoting you but addressing @punchdrunkpatzer, he seemed to be thinking of a process where the white balls were removed but the black ball replaced - couldn't understand why.
Your post was straightforwardly correct.

"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
"which i dont believe the op of the problem suggested." me
Elroch already covered earlier both scenarios of both replacing the balls and not replacing them.
And he was wrong about not replacing them.
Do explain. I don't recall being wrong.
pdp conceded Elroch.
His post doing so appears above.
Sometimes these posts don't appear right away.

@MARattigan, fortunately that would not matter, because anything that happens after you do hit the black ball does not affect the outcome of interest.

"if you do replace the balls,..." @Elroch
"which i dont believe the op of the problem suggested." me
Elroch already covered earlier both scenarios of both replacing the balls and not replacing them.
And he was wrong about not replacing them.
Do explain. I don't recall being wrong. I do recall considering two alternative questions (I was looking for a question to fit Ghostess' answer, but I didn't end up with one - I am pretty sure there is another well-known problem she was thinking of).
i was using a hypergeometric version of the Bernoulli Trial equation covered in one of my textbooks. To check, I instead did the product of (100-k)/(101-k) in 50 increments and got 1/2 like you said. I must ahve made an error in using the formula because it should have returned 1/2.

Actually math is very much a 'strong suit' of both Elroch and MEGA.
well neither ones proving it now...now are they ?
@MARattigan, fortunately that would not matter, because anything that happens after you do hit the black ball does not affect the outcome of interest.
True.
Actually math is very much a 'strong suit' of both Elroch and MEGA.
well neither ones proving now...are they ?
Yes they are. (Did you get my message?)
O's priority is to post things he imagines will be annoying especially because they're false.
But in his insecurity he doesn't seem to get it that others are not fragile and delicate - unlike him - so ironically and pathetically its he who gets annoyed.
tbf i actually am extremely emotionally fragile when it comes to people posting objectively false things. optimissed used to just be intentionally vague (fallaciously) but now hes just posting stuff that takes 5 seconds of research, from even a flat earther, could determine that what he's saying is objectively wrong.
BC and MEGA - you have options as to whether to be 'fragile' or not.
You might not be aware of those options.
So therefore you might not be aware of a 'choice'.
You'll think 'I am such and such ...' not realizing that that's partly happening because you choose to say/think so.
In your young age group (whatever it is) you'll have and do have much more 'facility of options' than O does in his age group. Although unlike O - many seniors know how to Develop and Improve and Use their range of options instead of being rigidly 'Set' like O.
But apparently O's situation has been hopeless for a very long time.
Maybe now you'll again want to be 'defense lawyer' for him BC ...
in which case this post to you won't work at your end - but still 'works' though.
----------------------------------------------
but you may discover that a person's 'ability to be annoying' depends on who they're trying to annoy.
Some might confuse 'fragility to be annoyed' with 'intellectual acuity'.
Mistakenly thinking they're equivalent.
They're not.
Foolish sensitivity is just that. Foolishness.
To be immune from it - by choice - is not obtuseness.
Its emotional Empowerment to choose ... including to make the emotional choices intellectually.
I quoted MEGA's post - but had actually meant to quote BC's response to MEGA and respond to both of them ...
but its OK.
Because the ideas are the same.